The Present Disclosure relates to terminal assemblies, connectors and methods for manufacturing the terminal assembly.
Conventional cable connecting connectors, such as flexible printed circuit (FPC) connectors and flexible flat cable (FFC) connectors, have been used to connect a flexible flat plate-like cables, referred to as flexible printed circuit substrates, flexible flat cables or the like (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-057260).
FIG. 28 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional cableconnecting connector. This connector has an insulating housing 701, with a first conductive terminal 702 and a second conductive terminal 703 held by the housing 701. The first terminal 702 is inserted into a slit disposed in the housing 701 from a cable insertion port, when attached. The second terminal 703 is also inserted into a slit disposed in the housing 701 from a side opposite to the cable insertion port, when attached. Moreover, an insulating actuator 704 is disposed on an upper surface of the housing 701. The actuator 704 is rotatably attached to the housing 701 and rotated between a shown closed position and an opened position (not shown). That is, the actuator 704 rotates due to such a configuration that opposite ends thereof are supported by the housing 701 and an intermediate portion thereof is supported by the first terminal 702. When the actuator 704 is at its opened position, a flat-plate-like cable 705 is inserted from an opening of the housing 701. Moreover, when the cable 705 is inwardly inserted into a distal end, an operator can rotate the actuator 704 to its closed position. A lock portion 706 of the actuator 704 is then brought into engagement with a lock portion (not shown) of the housing 701 to lock the actuator 704. Thus, the cable 705 is pressed from above by the actuator 704, and a plurality of connecting portions exposed on a lower surface of the cable 705 come into contact with the first terminal 702 and the second terminal 703 to conduct electricity to the respective terminals, the actuator 704 being in a fixed position.
Moreover, the cable 705 is sometimes drawn around and positioned so as to extend in a direction vertical to a mounting surface (a direction shown by the arrow in FIG. 28). Even in such a case, a distance from the lock portion 706 to a rotation center 707 of the actuator 704 is longer than that from a point 708 of the actuator 704 at which a tensile force is received to the rotation center 707. Therefore, owing to the principle of leverage, engagement of the lock portion 706 of the actuator 704 with the lock portion of the housing 701 is not released, preventing the cable 705 from being drawn around to cause undesired release of the actuator 704.
Nevertheless, in the conventional connector of FIG. 28, since the first terminal 702 and the second terminal 703 are inserted into and seated at the respective slits provided in the housing 701, achieving a reduction in a pitch of arrangement of the terminals is restricted. Where a reduction in terminal pitch is desired in such an arrangement, there would be an attempt to reduce the widths of the first and second terminals 702 and 703. When such small width first and second terminals 702 and 703 are produced from a metallic material, there are workability limits to thicknesses of terminal production materials. Thus, it is difficult to set the thicknesses of the terminals so as to obtain a sufficient spring force, that is, sufficient pressing forces of the first and second terminals 702 and 703 with respect to the cable 705. Therefore, as a result, there is a restriction on the ability to reduce the pitch of the first and second terminals 702 and 703.
Furthermore, a complicated structure of the housing 701 and actuator 704 would be needed since the lock portion 706 of the actuator 704 is configured to be engaged with the lock portion (not shown) of the housing 701, thereby fixing the posture of the actuator 704. When the actuator 704 is rotated toward an inlet end of the opening of the housing 701, the actuator is brought into the closed position thereof. Therefore, in a case where the actuator is applied to a so-called straight type of connector mounted so that the opening of the housing 701 is positioned vertically to a substrate, operability must deteriorate, and the height of the connector will increase. Furthermore, it is difficult to reduce the pitch of the first and second terminals 702 and 703.
Other conventional connectors electrically connect a pair of electric or electronic components such as circuit substrates to each other (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-55463) include connector portions which are attached to respective surfaces of a pair of circuit substrates facing each other and which protrude from the respective surfaces toward one another.
FIG. 29 is a cross-sectional view of another conventional connector. This shows a first connector 801 attached to one circuit substrate (not shown), and a second connector 811 attached to the other circuit substrate (not shown). The first connector 801 includes a plurality of first terminals 802, and the second connector 811 includes a plurality of second terminals 812. Moreover, when the first connector 801 and the second connector 811 are mutually fitted together so as to permit the first and second connectors to be in contact with one another, connection is provided between a pair of circuit substrates.
In FIG. 29, an attachment protruding portion 803 is press-fitted in an attachment hole of the first connector 801 to fixedly secure the first terminals 802 to the first connector 801. Moreover, a tail portion 804 of each first terminal 802 is connected to a wiring line formed on the surface of the one circuit substrate by soldering. The second connector 811 is formed by over-molding so as to coat a part of the second terminals 812. Moreover, a tail portion 813 of each second terminal 812 is connected to a wiring line formed on the surface of the other circuit substrate by soldering.
Furthermore, when the first connector 801 is fitted to the second connector 811, a connection protrusion 806 at a tip end of a connecting portion 805 of each first terminal 802 comes into contact with a connection concave portion 815 formed at a connecting portion 814 of each second terminal 812 to electrically connect a pair of circuit substrates to each other. The connection protrusion 806 is brought into association with the connection concave portion 815 to mutually lock the first terminals 802 and the second terminals 812 to retain the first and second connectors 801 and 811 fitted together.
However, in these types of conventional connectors, when each connection protrusion 806 functions as a spring elastically displaced in a direction orthogonal to a fitting direction (the vertical direction in FIG. 29), electric contact between the first terminals 802 and the second terminals 812 is securely maintained. Moreover, the fitted state between the first and second connectors 801 and 811 is maintained. Therefore, the shape of the first terminals 802, including the connecting portions must be complicated since the length of the elastically deformed connecting portion 805 must be increased to obtain a sufficient spring length, especially when there is a desire to reduce the thickness of the connector while securing sufficient spring length.
Moreover, the first terminals 802 are usually die-cut and formed in order to exert a sufficient spring force. However, in this case, the individual first terminals 802 need to be press-fitted in the attachment hole of the first connector 801 one by one, when being attached. Therefore, costs increase. Furthermore, in the attachment hole, a wall is formed between the terminals in order to provide an electric insulation between the neighboring first terminals 802 and therefore it becomes difficult to reduce pitch therebetween.
Other connectors for electrically connecting a pair of electric or electronic components to each other or to connect the electric or electronic component to a circuit substrate include a plurality of elongated terminals arranged in parallel with one another (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 7-282912).
FIG. 30 is a diagrammatic plan view illustrating a further conventional terminal assembly, which is in the middle of manufacture thereof, reference numeral 901 generally denoting a plurality of terminals to be mounted in a connector housing (not shown) in parallel arrangement with one another. One longitudinal end of each terminal 901 is a contact portion 902 which is provided to contact a counterpart terminal (not shown), and the other end of each terminal is a tail portion 903 connected to a circuit substrate or the like (not shown).
A carrier portion 905 is integrally connected to tip ends of the respective tail portions 903. In the process of manufacturing this connector or the terminal assembly, the carrier portion 905 is grasped by a conveying or transferring machine, a machine tool, a working tool, a jig, an operator's hand or the like in order to readily perform operations such as conveying or transferring and positioning of the terminal assembly, and the carrier portion 905 is cut and removed in a final manufacturing stage of the connector assembly.
Furthermore, the terminals 901 are connected to each other via a sub-carrier portion 904 at a portion between the contact portion 902 and the tail portion 903. Therefore, during the manufacturing of the terminal assembly, an arrangement of the terminals 901 can be accurately maintained.
In addition, an insulating resin material 906 is provided so as to coat entire connecting portions of the terminals 901 to the sub-carrier portions 904 and a surrounding area of the connecting portions. The insulating resin material member 906 is integrally formed by insert molding of portions of the terminals 901 between the contact portions 902 and the tail portions 903, and the terminals 901 are fixed and held.
Here, the insulating resin material member 906 has a plurality of window portions 907 formed during the insert molding. Each window portion 907 is formed at a position corresponding to the sub-carrier portion 904 between the adjacent terminals 901. Therefore, in a post-process, the sub-carrier portions 904 exposed in the window portions 907 can be removed by die-cutting. It is to be noted that the carrier portion 905 is similarly cut off in the post-process. Hence, the terminals 901 are held by the insulating resin material member 906 in a state in which the terminals 901 are electrically independent from each other, but physically connected to one another. Instead of the window portions 907, cutout portions may be formed in the insulating resin material member 906.
However, in this conventional terminal assembly of FIG. 30, the window portions 907 or the cutout portions are formed during the molding of the insulating resin material member 906.
Therefore, in a cavity of a die for molding the insulating resin material member 906, convex portions corresponding to the window portions 907 or the cutout portions must be provided, requiring a complicated die. When the terminal assembly is used in, for example, the connector of a small-sized electronic device such as a cellular phone, an interval between the adjacent terminals 901 is about 1 [m] or less. Providing convex portions corresponding to the small window portions 907 or the cutout portions formed in such a small place is very difficult. Furthermore, the sub-carrier portions 904 exposed in the window portions 907 or the cutout portions are die-cut and removed. It is extremely difficult to prepare a metallic piece or tool which is able to enter the above-described small window portions 907 or the cutout portions to remove the sub-carrier portions 904 by the die-cutting.